


Paul and Daryl Fall In Love!

by gayliensav



Series: Modern Desus AU [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Artist!Jesus, Daryl falls in love, Domestic Fluff, Happy AU, M/M, Mechanic!Daryl, Paul is perfect and he loves that, and is adorable about it, one night stand turned relationship, this has so much fluff i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 15:30:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9130546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayliensav/pseuds/gayliensav
Summary: Daryl thinks back on his relationship as he tries to figure out a way to ask his boyfriend, Paul, to move in.





	

**Author's Note:**

> It's two in the morning and I drank two cups of coffee. Mistake? Yes, definitely. I got an idea which was just "Paul kicks Merle's ass" and it turned into this and didn't even include Paul interacting with Merle and I'm just...? Anyways, here. This is probably going to turn into a series.
> 
> Did I mention that artist!Jesus is my favorite thing? It is. Thank you.

It all started because of Rick fucking Grimes, really.

Daryl had known the man since high school, despite definitely being in different crowds. Rick was on the football team, popular, had a cheerleader girlfriend and Daryl...well, he didn’t even have a crowd. The name Dixon was like a disease that no one wanted to catch. But Rick Grimes didn’t care, no sir, he saw Daryl sitting alone at lunch his freshman year and walked right over and sat down beside him like he had a death wish.

Daryl spent the first two weeks just glaring at the man and Daryl had no idea how that didn’t scare him away. Eventually they started talking, then hanging out after school, and soon enough they were graduating and going off to college.

Once again, different crowds.

They both attended a nearby university. Rick went mostly on his family’s money and Daryl was drowning in student loans, shoving off any protests from Rick when he asked if he wanted help with the bills.

Rick partied and played on the football team (again) and Daryl...well, didn’t. They were roommates but he steered clear of all that shit. This time, though, Daryl managed to make friends. He met this kid, Glenn, and his girlfriend, Maggie. They were nice people, really. They didn’t seem to get involved with all the parties and people, which was what kind of drew Daryl to them.

Graduation came and Daryl graduated with a mechanics degree, Rick headed off to the police academy, but they stayed together.

Rick got married, had a kid, got cheated on, had another kid, got a divorce, and got remarried and Daryl...well, didn’t. He’d never been with anyone in his life aside from the occasional hookup at a party Rick had to practically _drag him to_.

Then, like almost everything else in his life, Rick fucking Grimes caused the most _annoying_ thing to happen.

He fell in love.

Yeah, _love_. Fucking disgusting, really. It was all Rick’s fault too.

He _introduced them_. His new wife, Michonne, was an art critic. She mentioned to Rick that there was _this guy_ who was an amazing artist who just opened a store downtown. Then Rick _just so happen_ to see that Daryl’s walls were practically empty and suggested decorating his apartment and drug him down to that store. Then Rick _just so happen_ to introduce him to the owner, Paul Rovia.

When he met Paul, he was a mess. Not even figuratively, he was literally a _mess_. His light brown hair was tied up in a messy bun and he had paint splatters on his face, his t-shirt, and even his jeans.

Daryl’s first thought was _hippy_ , his second was _cute hippy_ , and his third was _cute hippy with amazing eyes_.

“I’m Paul,” he had said, holding out a paint covered hand, “My friends call me Jesus. Your pick.”

“Daryl,” he grunted in return, refusing to shake the man’s paint covered hand.

He found out Paul had opened his art store with the help of his friend, Maggie. Yeah _the same Maggie_ he knew in college. She was holding out on him! She knew this guy the whole time and never thought to maybe introduce them? He could have met him a hell of a lot sooner.

Falling in love was a slow process that was pushed forward by all of his friends.

It started with attraction which...well, look at the guy! He’s a lot to look at! And Daryl had no idea how to react to _that_. He’d never given much thought to his sexuality because it didn’t really matter to him. His family had been pretty close-minded, but Daryl refused to become like that. His best friend from the garage, Aaron, was gay and married, so he never gave much thought to things like that.

Then he met Paul.

“Sweetie,” Eric had said one day while he was waiting for Aaron to get off work, “I don’t mean to sound pushy or anything, but I’m like ninety nine point nine percent sure you two would be a match made in heaven!”

“Leave the poor man alone,” Aaron had laughed from where they were working on the bike together.

Merle held things back. His brother was out of jail and staying with him and that just brought all the feelings of insecurity from his childhood up. Merle said nasty things, derogatory names about Aaron and Eric and acted like an asshole when he brought them around until Daryl told him to either shut his trap or get out. That put him in his place pretty fast, since he was living there and drinking his beer for free.

Merle might have shut up, but that didn’t stop Merle’s _voice_ from entering his head every single time he thought of going to talk to Paul.

Then, finally, Daryl didn’t have to go to Paul, because Paul came to him. Well, he didn’t _come to him_ , but Daryl had been in the bar after work at the same time Paul had been.

“Hi, Daryl,” Paul had said, smiling at him. Daryl hadn’t seen him many times before that but it was probably the first time he wasn’t covered in paint. He was cleaned up, in a white t-shirt and black jacket with a beanie on his head

“Hey,” Daryl had smiled at him.

They talked most of the night and continued to drink and…

Okay, the slow process turned into a big push forward because they got drunk and slept together.

And it was _awesome_.

Paul was different than anyone he’d ever met, let alone hooked up with. On top of talking most of the night, Paul didn’t take off the next morning. He woke up before Daryl and _cooked him breakfast_ in one of his shirts.

One; kind of hot. Two; _holy shit_.

Paul stayed most of the morning, they ate breakfast and drank coffee to try to get rid of the killer hangovers they both had. Paul told him he had an art class at noon and had to take off, but asked if he wanted to meet up for dinner.

Two months in, he kicked Merle’s drunken ass out after a stupid fight that he couldn't even remember now...and because he kind of freaked Paul out, despite never meeting him; five months in, he said “I love you” for the first time in his life; one year later...he was hooked.

Paul was _amazing_. He gave art lessons to kids for free in the summers and barely charged anything any other time, he was an amazing artist and sold his paintings, and he did _charity work_. Daryl was pretty sure he was perfect and on top of it being amazing, it freaked him the hell out. How could someone so perfect want _him_?

He still hadn’t figured it out, a year later, but there Paul was, asleep next to him, and definitely not going anywhere.

“Hi,” Paul said softly, his blue eyes looking up at him.

“Hey,” Daryl mumbled, still staring at him.

Paul leaned over him to grab his phone from the charger and checked his messages, putting his head on his shoulder. It was a routine now; Daryl would wake up first by an alarm, wait around until Paul woke up (making sure to wake him up before he left for work if he hadn’t woken up by then), they’d shower together, make breakfast together, and then went their separate ways for the day. It was rare that he didn’t see Paul back at his place at the end of the day. He really just wanted to _ask him to move in_ , but he didn't know how.

So he went looking for advice.

“It’s not hard,” Glenn told him as they sat in his delivery car, his mouth full of pizza, “I mean, Maggie asked me, so I don’t have any room to talk, but she just straight up asked.”

Daryl swallowed a bite of his pizza, “How’d ya react?”

“Shocked, I guess,” Glenn said, picking a piece of pepperoni off of his pizza, “But I went with it. Now we’re living together. End of story.”

Daryl nodded slowly and looked down at the pizza, “Man, ain’t you ‘sposed ta be deliverin’ this?”

* * *

Daryl sat on the couch, his arm around Paul as they watched a movie together. He’d came back to his apartment tired as hell. Apparently he had a young class today because they _threw paint_ at him. Daryl could still see the blue tint on his cheek from where he’d scrubbed it off.

Daryl tried not to laugh at the story. Thankfully Paul didn’t take offense to it when he laughed, because he started laughing as well.

Good.

“‘Ey,” Daryl said when the movie ended, “Got somethin’ I wanna ask ya.”

“Sure,” Paul smiled, moving away from him and moving so he was facing him on the couch, sitting cross-legged on the couch.

He was so cute, Daryl almost lost it. He felt so much _love_ for the man in front of him. He was the only one who got to see this now; Paul was in his sweat pants, one of Daryl’s shirts on, with his hair up in a bun. He wasn’t talking in his professional voice he used when he was making a deal for one of his paintings and he wasn’t using the voice that he talked to his students in...he was _relaxed_ with him. Someone actually felt  _comfortable_ enough to love him.

“Wanted ta ask you...if ya maybe wanted ta move in?” Daryl asked hesitantly and continued before Paul could say anything, “I mean, you’re always here a-and I know things’ve been slow at the shop...it'd save on money and-”

“Daryl,” Paul cut him off, a smile on his face, “Don’t make excuses. Do you want me to move in with you?”

Daryl nodded quickly, not sure what else he was supposed to say. Why didn’t he ask Glenn what he was supposed to say? Damn.

“I’d love to move in with you,” Paul said, getting excited now. He wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug, “I’ve practically been living here anyways.”

Daryl pursed his lips, trying not to let a huge smile spread across his face but ended up failing.

Maybe falling in love wasn’t so bad.


End file.
